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WINTER 2014
MAKING SENSE OF DIVERSITY
Of the eight values that underpin the
University’s Strategy 2015, it is that of
Accessibility that I want to highlight.
This value demonstrates how important
we consider it, as a community, to
enable access to Warwick for students
from diverse backgrounds. Such a value
also provides us with a duty to ensure
that, once admitted and whatever their
background, all students experience the
superior quality of learning we aspire to
deliver.
My role as Pro-Vice-Chancellor includes
a primary responsibility for this work.
Working with colleagues from academic
departments, the Students’ Union and
central services, last year we developed
the University’s Widening Participation
Strategy Working Together to Realise
Potential. This strategy is now bearing fruit
as we refresh our access programmes,
enhance and create new partnerships
with schools and colleges and explore
different ways of working together. As the
IATL event Making Sense of Diversity in
a University Education demonstrates, we
are also sharing the good practices that
exist at Warwick as well as gathering the
empirical evidence and research that will
help us to identify and further develop
supportive and inclusive approaches to
teaching and learning.
In saying this, I believe it is important to
stress that this cannot be achieved in
any uni-directional way; for example, by
only looking to what we should do for, or
indeed be doing to, students. We have to
include our students as collaborators (or,
in IATL’s terms, co-producers) in designing
meaningful practices. Students bring a
variety of views and perspectives. They
challenge us to think differently. And, in
doing so, there are real and substantial
gains that we can achieve together.
So, there is a lot we are doing but still
much to do. For me, this is summed up in a
statement on diversity from the University
of Chicago. This notes how important it is
to raise aspirations, monitor improvements
and confront shortcomings. More
importantly, though: ‘Our higher aspirations
will be met only with the focused effort of
the whole campus community’. Making
sense of diversity, then, is not just the work
of the few. It is work for us all.
Professor Christina Hughes
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)
MAKING SENSE OF DIVERSITY
IN A UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
On 6 November 2013 IATL hosted an
event entitled‘Making Sense of Diversity
in a University Education’. The event drew
together around 60 colleagues from a wide
range of departments to discuss the lifecycle
of Widening Participation from outreach
through retention to progression. The event
had a particular focus on retention; that is,
what we do at Warwick to ensure that our
teaching practices are open to and beneficial
to all students from all backgrounds. The
event was introduced by Professor Christina
Hughes, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and
Learning) and this newsletter reflects some of
the discussions which took place during what
was a stimulating and thought-provoking
afternoon.
Given that this was an event focusing on
inclusivity it was interesting that gender,
sexual orientation, ethnicity and religion
were little mentioned. An optimistic
interpretation of this would be that
exclusion for these reasons is not a major
issue for Warwick students. The discussion
on these pages concerns the inclusion of
students regardless of age, disability or
socio-economic background. Importantly,
our experience suggests that initiatives
aimed at ensuring students from these
groups “fit in” will in fact benefit all our
students: a classic win-win situation. We
hope that sharing our colleagues’ ideas will
stimulate further debate and inspire new
and inclusive teaching practice.
Dr Paul Taylor, IATL Director
STUDENT-LED
RESEARCH
During the last 18 months, three major
reports have revealed much about the
experiences of adult learners and part time
degree students in higher education: NUS/
Million+’s Never too Late to Learn (2012),
HEA’s Flexible Pedagogies (September
2013) and, most importantly, UUK’s The
Power of Part Time (October 2013).
Nationally, we have learned that:
•More than a quarter of the current undergraduate population study part time;
•Since 2010, adult recruitment has declined by 40% (undergraduate) and 27% on (postgraduate);
•Reducing part-time recruitment has had a disproportionate impact on
‘non-traditional’ learners;
•Approximately a third of part-time students leave their courses before the end of their second year (well beyond the 10% for the full-time equivalent);
•Adult learners have full lives beyond their studies, with 80% in employment and half in families with dependent children.
We have been warned that universities
should ‘avoid making uncritical
assumptions that part-time students can
simply be accommodated on programmes
designed for their full-time counterparts’
(Yorke & Longdon, 2008; cited in HEA,
2013). Institutional disincentives include
declining demand and reduced funding,
alongside the perception that part-time
students are more difficult and expensive
to support and impact negatively on
league table performance. We have also
learned that part-time and adult learners
benefit from the adoption of high-quality
pre-course information and induction,
credit accumulation and transfer schemes,
flexible approaches to teaching and
timetabling and the provision of ‘childfriendly campus’ facilities.
Warwick does lots of great things to
support adult learners and part-time
students; over the years, many thousands
have enjoyed fantastic learning experiences
and achieved tremendous successes.
But barriers remain – most notably, a
lack of flexibility in provision, a reducing
number of evening modules and very
late confirmation of module choices. With
our partner departments and colleges,
CLL is doing much to enhance students’
experiences. We have developed new predegree courses, like our Warwick Gateway
to HE: Social Studies which recruited a first
cohort this year. We continue to improve
course selection, enrolment, induction,
content, support and employability. We
are developing new progression pathways
and new part-time specific courses. We
look to develop new partnerships and
collaborations across the university to
widen and enrich part-time provision.
Dr Will Curtis
Senior Tutor, Centre for Lifelong Learning
I am a final-year 2+2 Social Studies student. This year, I was fortunate enough to be able to
formulate and devise a research project looking at why some non-traditional students think
about leaving university and how the transitional period from college to university may have
affected that decision. With the assistance of the URSS and the Centre for Lifelong Learning, I
interviewed current final-year students about their experiences and found that they had many
issues while they were at college which affected their first few months at Warwick.
Many of the students felt privileged to be in a position where they had the opportunity
to study at Warwick University. Their overriding concern was with how ‘non-traditional
students’ are perceived and the impact of this on their confidence and feelings of ‘fitting
in’. Many identified clear mechanisms which could make the transition from college to
university more positive; most of these have now been enacted by the Centre for Lifelong
Learning, such as the development of a student-led society, student engagement officer
and the use of a distinctive physical space.
Clearly, this student-led research identified issues already being considered and addressed
by the Centre for Lifelong Learning. It could be deemed that the findings from this research
culminated in the development of positive strategies being put in place to ensure the
experience of students to the 2+2 programme is much improved. Furthermore, 2+2
students will feel that they have been instrumental in this developmental process.
Clare Allington
Final-year 2+2 student, Centre for Lifelong Learning
IATL: WINTER 2014 MAKING SENSE OF DIVERSITY IN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
CONTINUING
TO SUPPORT
DIVERSITY
Widening Participation (WP) does not stop when a student arrives at university. Not only
does WP describe the full range of activities that raise students’ aspirations for further
and higher education, it also refers to all that we do to enhance the ability of all students
to undertake higher education successfully. For example, it is vital that students from all
backgrounds are given equal opportunity to participate in study-abroad and internship
programmes. It is certainly not about ‘labelling’ any of our students. However, it is about
ensuring all students, regardless of background, receive advice, support and guidance at
university, tailored to their needs.
It is also about ensuring that we are friendly, approachable and accessible in all that we do.
For example, in PAIS we have renamed our office hours ‘Advice and Feedback Hours’, giving
students the opportunity to receive verbal feedback from academic staff. We also provide
individual exam feedback as we know how important it is to our students. We have taken
part in a very successful trial with the SU in running online elections to our Student-Staff
Liaison Committee (SSLC). One reason for doing so was an appreciation that it can be very
daunting for a first-year student to stand up at the front of a lecture hall at the start of their
university career, as often happens with the more traditional way of running such elections.
We are also working hard to enhance the support and provision provided by personal
tutors, embedding study skills into the curriculum, and recruiting PAIS Student
Ambassadors as part of our personal development (and WP) strategy. We also put on
social events to enable students to get to know academic staff in a more informal setting,
and we work closely with the Politics Society and its mentoring scheme. In short, WP and
Diversity should run through everything that we do.
Justin Greaves, Director of Student Experience and Progression, PAIS
and Shannon Holland-Houghton, second-year PAIS student
WIDENING PARTICIPATION THROUGH
MOBILE VIDEO CONFERENCING
Disability matters, whether it is visible or invisible, and we need to make
higher education more accessible. Five million working-age people in Britain
are disabled enough to have significant difficulties with day-to-day activities,
so this will include learning activities. Only 15% of working-age adults with
disabilities have degree-level qualifications, compared to 28% of those who
are non-disabled. How can we tackle this sizable challenge?
This project started by making a difference to one student unable to
attend teaching sessions on campus. I piloted mobile videoconferencing
technology provided by audio-visual services, creating an interactive
learning environment. The remote student was in a videoconferencing
facility near their location (though home-based computer equipment can
be used) and was connected straight into the classroom. In the classroom
they ‘sat’ among the other learners with their head and shoulders appearing
life-size on a monitor. The classroom screen was fed to their laptop. We heard
and saw each other. We interacted successfully.
Now, in phase 2, IATL has purchased a second set of equipment which is
even more mobile. The stand is wheeled to classrooms and the built-in
camera enables the remote participant to zoom in and choose where to
look.
What are your ideas about uses for this equipment? To find out more and
get support to use this mobile videoconferencing effectively, please contact
IATL.
Without access we only offer exclusion.
Claire Raistrick, Senior Teaching Fellow, Warwick Medical School
IATL: WINTER 2014 MAKING SENSE OF DIVERSITY IN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
CAREERS SUPPORT FOR WP STUDENTS
Student Careers and Skills currently offers the following targeted support to WP students:
• Additional financial support to those in need to enable access to short unpaid work experience opportunities;
• Careers support to CLL through their new ‘Researching Placements’ module for 2 + 2 students;
• 1 day of Senior Careers Consultant time to work with SARO to support the WP agenda which includes production of the ‘What can I do with a Degree in..?’ series of leaflets,
attendance at School Careers days/presentations and through contributions at some school events;
• We will undertake a DLHE analysis to compare the destinations of WP students against the main undergraduate cohort to see whether there are differences in outcome;
• Last year our Placement Learning Unit identified that 44.8% of applicants to our
graduate paid internship programme (WGI) were from a WP background. Interestingly of those placed, 62% were WP graduates;
• Enhanced support for Lloyds Scholars through Warwick Volunteers.
Our current interests are in gathering more precise information about WP students and graduates in order to identify individual and more general needs and to find a way of being able to
provide support to those who may wish to access this.
In relation to retention it would be helpful to know about students who may be unhappy with
their choice of course at an earlier stage. We generally see students at crisis points when they
need to make a decision about their course on that day or by the end of the week.
Anne Wilson, Student Careers and Skills and WP
IATL FUNDING DEADLINES
DEADLINE
FUNDING STREAM
AVAILABLE TO
FORTHCOMING
EVENTS
(YYYY/MM/DD)
• Making Sense of Enterprise Education 6 February 2014
Staff
(15:00-18:00), Venue TBC
2013/12/04 Student as Producer (Research), Undergraduates and PGTs Student as Producer (Collaboration), (research and collaboration); • British Conference of
Undergraduate Research
Student as Producer (Performance)
undergraduates and all
postgraduates (performance) 14-15 April 2014
University of Nottingham
2014/03/12 Student as Producer (Research), Undergraduates and PGTs
• Teaching and Learning Showcase
Student as Producer (Collaboration),
(research and collaboration);
24 June 2014
Student as Producer (Performance), undergraduates and all
Performance Festival Bursaries
postgraduates (performance
• International Conference of and festival bursaries)
Undergraduate Research
23 September 2014
2014/05/09 Pedagogic Interventions, Staff
Academic Fellowships, Strategic Funding
For more information about these events
and how to register your attendance please
2014/06/25 Student as Producer (Performance), Undergraduates and check News and Events on the IATL website
Performance Festival Bursaries
postgraduates
www.warwick.ac.uk/iatl/newsandevents
2013/10/18
Pedagogic Interventions,
Academic Fellowships, Strategic Funding
Designed by Hannah Jamieson Vickery. Printed by John Baxter and Sons Ltd
©2014 University of Warwick
Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning
IATL, University of Warwick, Senate House, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL
Website: www.warwick.ac.uk/iatl
024 761 50377
IATL_Warwick
TheIATL@Warwick.ac.uk
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